two xp installations

  • Thread starter Thread starter epost2
  • Start date Start date
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epost2

Hi,
To prevent having to install from scratch upon error I would like to be
able to have another xp available on another partition. So I made two
primary ntfs and installed a fresh xp on partition 1. Then I used a
shareware called "driveimage xml" to create an image of the partition,
and then i restore the image to the second partition. If I edit
boot.ini and put in a second line that refers to partition 2 I can see
2 systems on the boot menu on startup. I am able to start from
partition 2 and it seems to kind of work but there are at least two
issues:
After starting from partition 2 I get the generic host process for
win32 services error message. Message says the service needs to close,
I clik ok, and then things seems to be working. What causes this error?
Is it crucial for a working system?

Another thing is about the drive letters. Ideally, when I start the
second system, I would like it to have alle the same settings as the
original system. It should too, it is supposed to be an image of it.
But the second system still has the drive letter G while the system on
partition 1 has C. Is there a way to assign C to another partition?
 
Sounds like a whole lot of agrivation, not withstanding Licensing and
activation issues.
You will presumably be aware that you will have to keep both installations
updated and any apps will have to be installed on both?
Perhaps a simpler method would be to use imaging software?
 
DL said:
Sounds like a whole lot of agrivation, not withstanding Licensing and
activation issues.
You will presumably be aware that you will have to keep both installations
updated and any apps will have to be installed on both?
Perhaps a simpler method would be to use imaging software?
Click to expand...

agrivation yes, but that`s because microsoft has made it so difficult
to manage the software you`ve bought. Why should there be license
issues. I`m still only using my license on one computer. The method
inculdes imaging software, that`s the whole idea.
 
agrivation yes, but that`s because microsoft has made it so difficult
to manage the software you`ve bought. Why should there be license
issues. I`m still only using my license on one computer. The method
inculdes imaging software, that`s the whole idea.
Click to expand...

The licensing issue exists because it is there. Creating and
storing an image is different from installing 2 copies of XP
on the same computer.

As for doing what is being intended, it would be best to put
each copy of XP on to its own hard drive. A third-party boot
manager, such as System Commander or whatever, should be used
to select the HD from which the computer boots. This avoids
the error encountered. And also, the system partition would
be Drive C, regardless of which hard drive was chosen. The
limitations of using the boot.ini file have been shown.

And, BTW, this method should circumvent the license restriction
since it can be argued technically that only one hard drive (and
one copy of XP) is active. It is a variation of the removable
hard drive model.
 
GHalleck said:
As for doing what is being intended, it would be best to put
each copy of XP on to its own hard drive. A third-party boot
manager, such as System Commander or whatever, should
be used to select the HD from which the computer boots.
Click to expand...

It's not necessary to use a 3rd-party boot manager.
With the OSes on different HDs, the OP has the option
of either using the BIOS to reset the HD boot order to
select which HD's MBR gets control at boot time, or
using MS's ntldr boot manager to dual-boot between
the 2 installed OSes (or 2 OS clones).

If the OP wishes to use ntldr, the two entries in boot.ini
that refer to the 2 OSes just have to get "rdisk()" and
"partition()" right. "rdisk(x)" refers to the HD's relative
position in the HD boot order, where the HD at the head
of the list of bootable HDs has position x="0". The
"partition(y)" parameter refers to the number of the
partition that contains the OS, starting with y="1".

If the BIOS is used to select the booting HD, both HDs
must have ntldr, boot.ini, and ntdetect.com in the "active"
partition, and that "active" partition must be a Primary
partition (as opposed to an Extended partition). This will
be the case both for separate installations of XP and
the case of one OS being the clone of the other.

If dual-booting with ntldr, the boot files (ntldr, boot.ini, and
ntdetect.com) can reside in just the HD that is at the head
of the BIOS's HD boot order. If one of the OS's is in a
partition that is a clone of the other OS's partition, both
partitions will contain the boot files automatically, and each
will call its own partition "C:" when it is running. Otherwise,
if the 2 OSes resulted from installations in which the 1st
was visible when the 2nd installation was made, the 2nd
OS will know its partition by some other letter than "C:".
The way around that, of course, is to make any 2nd OS
installation with the 1st HD disconnected so the installer
can't see it.

*TimDaniels*
 
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